Canaccord Genuity on Google, Barnes & Noble, and RadioShack

Google may continue its recent momentum, Barnes & Noble competes with Amazon, and RadioShack looks for a new CEO.

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The following are excerpts from Canaccord Genuity analysts' commentaries.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): Let Me Google That for You...

Canaccord Genuity Technology Analyst Michael Graham is raising his target price on Google as he believes the stock can continue its recent momentum. Graham highlights three key points for Google going forward: 1) He believes overall cost-per-click (or CPC) trends are likely to continue to show signs of stabilization or expansion. Graham's CPC tracker indicates that overall CPCs expanded slightly sequentially in both July and August, driven by higher desktop CPC, moderating shift to mobile, and flat mobile CPCs; 2) The Motorola Mobility acquisition is becoming more of a non-issue as investors are gaining comfort that it is likely EPS-neutral at worst, and potentially accretive after sizeable recent expense reductions; and 3) Graham believes the most significant remaining near-term negative is Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) continued attempts to come between iOS users and Google's search engine. This impacts long-term potential but not near-term estimates, and he argues that Google gets little credit for its mobile opportunity anyway.

Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS): A.K.A., the "iTry."

Barnes & Noble took a shot at archrival Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Wednesday, unveiling its own lighter and thinner hi-def tablets that can accommodate multiple users in a bid to win a bigger share of the exploding tablet market. The largest US bookstore chain introduced the new devices with price tags ranging from $199 for a 7-inch Nook HD tablet, with 8GB of memory, to $299 for a 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet, similar in size to Apple's market-leading iPad, with 32GB of memory. "A key growth area is to get their existing customer base onto the digital platform," an analyst at Forrester Research told Reuters, saying the new devices were competitive with similar products by Amazon in terms of features and pricing.

Barnes & Noble faces formidable competition from Amazon, which can use its Prime shipping service and website to draw users to its Kindle tablets, and Apple, which has sold tens of millions of iPads. To keep pace, Barnes & Noble added innovative features that would allow a family to share a Nook tablet, with each user able to create a home page and customize preferences. It is the first table to do so. There are also parental controls that can prevent kids from reading Fifty Shades of Grey. Barnes & Noble is also launching a new video-streaming and download service for Nook, narrowing the gap with Amazon and Apple, which offer more content on their devices.

RadioShack (NYSE:RSH): Shaking Things Up.

James Gooch stepped down from his position as RadioShack CEO Wednesday as the company looks to right the ship and return to its former position as a top electronics retailer. The company said, "The board decided that the timing was right. Moving forward with the decision sooner rather than later will help establish the right leadership to address the company's challenges." CFO Dorvin Lively will step in to the CEO role on an interim basis. Under Gooch's leadership, shares of RadioShack lost over 80%, while operating margins shrank to 3.5%.

While many analysts agree that a change was needed, the Street is more focused on who takes the helm as the company is in dire need of a makeover as it looks to compete with online retailers such as Amazon and larger retailers such as Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT). One Wall Street analyst says that one of the problems facing the company is its name. He commented, "Radio is a concept from a hundred years ago, and a shack is a place that essentially homeless people lie in." Beyond the name, the analyst notes that "(older customers) are not being replaced by 30-year-olds."

Canaccord Financial and its affiliated companies may have a Corporate Finance or other relationship with the companies mentioned and may trade in any of the Designated Investments mentioned herein either for their own account or the accounts of their customers, in good faith and in the normal course of market making. The authors have not received, and will not receive, compensation that is directly based upon or linked to one or more specific Corporate Finance activities, or to coverage herein.